Helping ComplyEd build better digital tools for schools

ComplyEd is an education technology company created to give school leaders time back.. Their digital platforms, The Governance Suite and The Leadership Suite, bring together governance, compliance and inspection preparation. The aim is simple: less time spent on administration and more time for teaching and learning.

Their commitment to schools goes beyond technology, too. Through ComplyEd Futures CIC, a proportion of sales goes towards grants for books, educational resources and enrichment opportunities.

As ComplyEd prepared to move from pilot to wider rollout, they wanted to make sure their platforms worked for people with different needs and levels of digital confidence. They applied to our pro bono programme for accessibility support. After talking through their plans, we realised there was a better way to use the available time.

Making the most of every hour

With 10 days of pro bono support, we wanted to make every hour count.

ComplyEd's platforms were still evolving, so a full accessibility audit wasn't necessarily the most useful next step. We felt the time could go further by helping the team identify issues early, understand the wider risks and build the skills to improve their platforms as development continued.

Together, we shaped a programme that combined functional exploratory testing, a high-level accessibility review, QA consultancy and an accessibility workshop. Our specialists explored key user journeys, reviewed accessibility and shared practical advice on improving quality and usability.

The accessibility review identified 15 issues across 10 pages, including barriers affecting keyboard navigation, screen reader accessibility and how content adapts when users zoom in. Our wider testing and consultancy also highlighted opportunities to improve usability and strengthen security.

But finding issues was only part of the value.

Through consultancy and training, we helped ComplyEd understand why these things mattered and what they could do about them. It meant the team could take what they'd learned into future development, rather than simply working through a list of findings.

Clearer priorities and greater confidence

When you're a small company developing two platforms, you can't tackle everything at once.

For ComplyEd, having an independent team look at their work brought a fresh perspective. Our findings helped them see where improvements were needed, particularly around accessibility and user experience, and decide which changes would make the biggest difference.

The programme also helped ComplyEd step back and consider how their platforms work for the people using them. Headteachers, Governors, Clerks and Trust leaders all have different responsibilities, needs and levels of technical confidence. Making their experience as straightforward and inclusive as possible is central to what ComplyEd want to achieve.

Having an outside perspective gave the team greater confidence in the direction they were taking, while helping them recognise where further work was needed.

ComplyEd is now working through the recommendations and building them into their development plans. Alongside clearer priorities, they have practical guidance and a stronger understanding of accessibility and quality to draw on as their platforms evolve.

For a growing company, access to this breadth of specialist support would otherwise have been difficult to fund.